SULFUR caves guide: gear, runs, farming and secrets

Start a Caves run with nothing but your starting gear — the father's shirt and the dirk are enough to beat the entire area — but bring Soul Fares (or a dunce cap) and a pocket rocket if you want the secrets, the level skip and a fast clear. That loadout advice comes from a player farming breakdown on YouTube ("Everything You Need to Know to Master Caves in SULFUR"), not from the developer. Caves is the first area in SULFUR, the roguelite from Perfect Random that left Early Access with 1.0 on October 28, 2026, and it is the place you will keep returning to for ingredients, easy loot and a free amulet charge.

This SULFUR caves guide covers three things: what to bring and expect on a run, what to farm and why, and the secrets worth detouring for.

Before you enter

Caves is deliberately accessible. According to the player breakdown, you can go in with the starting shirt and dirk and leave with exactly those items and still finish it. Gear only matters if you want to be faster or richer:

• Soul Fares — the strongest movement shoes in the game per the same player. One shoe gives a double jump, a pair a triple jump. They open the waterfall-room secret and make the maze layout far less painful. A dunce cap works as an alternative for the jump.
• Pocket rocket — a utility gun used to blow cracked walls without wasting grenade inventory space. Only really worth carrying for Caves.
• Oxygen help — an oxygen tank or similar item if you plan to swim to the underwater secrets. Skipping it costs health items or the run.

Everything else is optional. Caves is not designed to be brutal; it is the introduction.

What to farm in Caves

Caves' main draw is ingredients, both for immediate use and for later areas. The player farming breakdown emphasizes these targets:

• Velvet bells — hanging from ceilings, walls and floors in every level. Eight in any cooking item (cauldron, stove, trash can) makes fried mushrooms. Do not put nine in.
• Rod saps — eight in any cooking item makes a magic potion, widely considered the best healing item in the game because it cures poison and fire (pizza does not). In later areas, grab three rod saps at a time: three plus an herb also yields a magic potion.
• Sticks — combine two sticks into sawdust, then combine sawdust with cacao for a power bar, one of the strongest movement foods in the game. Cacao itself cannot drop in Caves from enemies, barrels or breakables; it only comes from brown chests, which are wild cards.
• Cheese and broth — combine one of each for fondue: good early heals, or 150 soul coin when sold. Both drop more frequently here than anywhere else. Two cheese also makes fondue but is worse value.
• Snails — noticeably more common here than in other areas; two combine into escargot.
• False soul caps — spawn abundantly. One metal scrap plus one false soul cap makes a soul fire grenade, which the player breakdown calls the best grenade in the game: one slot, sticks to enemies.

Rocks drop heavily here too, but the player source mainly uses them for mashed potatoes and otherwise discards them.

Chests and how to find them

Each run of Caves typically contains one black chest, one red chest and a batch of brown chests — near-guaranteed but not certain, since SULFUR is a roguelite. Chests are easier to find here than elsewhere because enemies are weaker.

The key habit the player source stresses: memorize chest spawn locations per room. If you find a chest in one part of a room, that same room layout tends to spawn a chest in the same spot next run. Nothing is guaranteed, but learning spawn points is what makes farming runs fast, in Caves and every area after it.

Enemies and how to handle them

• Baby goblins — jump and lunge, hard to hit, dangerous mainly in groups.
• Archers — heavy arrow damage; they always fire once drawn, so peek, let the shot miss, then kill them.
• Stabby boys — rush and melee; easier to dodge than goblins, but a missed dodge hurts.
• Skeletons — low damage, but they pile up badly in the maze, sometimes thirty at once.
• Dogs — among the toughest enemies in the game even after nerfs. Do not let them connect.
• Ghosts — announced by a screen wipe before appearing. Shoot them, or lure them to freeze other enemies for melee finishes.
• Elemental wizards — the deadliest regular enemy here. Fire, poison, frost or electric, thrown fast and hard. Kill them first or they will shred you. They can rarely spawn as early as Caves 2.
• Big boys — the plank-covered tanky units. Shoot the planks off before damaging them. The player source usually just avoids them; loot is not guaranteed and the durability cost is rarely worth it.

The mini-boss is a splitter — a giant big boy that spawns three smaller copies on death. It is skippable: charm it and the gate opens immediately, frostbite scrolls freeze it and the splits, a ghost lure freezes the whole pack, or cryo grenades do the job cleanly. Guaranteed rewards on the way out: an oiler scroll plus sulfur cap and false sulfur cap mushrooms.

Cousin is the final boss — a mud-dweller that throws mud balls and shields himself with a mud barrier. Multiple projectiles behave buggily against him, which is why enchanted shotguns underperform. Avoid the mud balls, keep moving, and clear the adds carefully. Players report killing him always yields a gun and 1000 soul coin, though the gun occasionally fails to appear due to a glitch.

Secrets in Caves

• Cracked walls — blow them open (pocket rocket, not grenades) for oils, scrolls or red chests. Oils and scrolls are among the best money-makers in the game: oils sell from roughly 250 soul coin up, scrolls from 500 up, and they occupy only one or two inventory slots.
• The broken dock room — an underwater path leading to a chest after a long swim. Bring oxygen help; the player source admits missing it dozens of times.
• The waterfall room top — climb with Soul Fares or a dunce cap (climbing the waterfall itself is glitchy and dangerous). Up top you find two assault rifle humans every time, a black chest, and — at the back wall — breakable barrels and planks that open a level skip straight to the end of the level.
• Climb everywhere — high ledges hide loot throughout the area.

Vendors in Caves

Kevin, Ralphy, Stiff Leg and Vex spawn here as everywhere. Caves-specific vendors:

• The Hawklin salesman — sells Corpse Maker and Grave Keeper rifles, durability kits and ammo (no grenades). His dialogue offers a membership discount side quest that costs two dog eyes; aim for dogs' eyes when killing them to improve the organ drop chance.
• Scrip — a rare unique vendor who sells repair kits, which Kevin does not.

Why veterans keep running Caves

Three reasons recur in the player breakdown: ingredients (rod saps, sticks, cheese-and-broth fondue), the Hawklin Corpse Maker, and a free amulet charge — Caves is one of the only areas with an exit back to the church hub, saving the 1000 soul coin teleport fee. Weaker enemies also make Caves the safest place to rank up a gun's first three or four ranks. For speedrunners, the player source ranks Caves 5 out of 6 for fun (the maze hurts routing) and considers sub-five-minute clears the benchmark.

Next steps

• Once you are comfortable with Caves, the Town guide covers the second area, where harder enemies and better loot begin.
• When your gear and gun ranks have grown, the Castle guide picks up the deeper progression.

FAQ

Do I need good gear for my first Caves run?

No. The player farming breakdown states the starting shirt and dirk are enough to beat all of Caves. Soul Fares and a pocket rocket are quality-of-life upgrades, not requirements.

How many rod saps make a magic potion?

Eight in any cooking item (cauldron, stove or trash can), or three rod saps plus an herb for a cheaper version later in the game.

Can you skip the Caves mini-boss?

Yes. Players report charm or frostbite scrolls end the fight instantly and open the gate, and ghost lures or cryo grenades work too.

Is there a fast way through the Caves maze?

Use Soul Fares and learn the waterfall-room secret: the breakable planks and barrels at its top wall open a shortcut to the end of the level.

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Check note (2026-11-06): gameplay details come from the first-hand player video "Everything You Need to Know to Master Caves in SULFUR"; version, platform and release facts come from the official Steam store page. The exact enemy nicknames, drop rates, chest guarantees and the Breacher 8 one-shot are player claims and remain unconfirmed by Perfect Random.